Another cross country athlete has been caught in the dope net. Railways runner Jayesh Patil has been served with a provisional suspension by the National Anti-Doping Agency in the latest list released.
Jayesh officially finished fifth in the 10km race at the 60th National Cross Country Championships in Ranchi in January. His sample has shown presence of meldonium, which is a non-specified substance and part of a list of prohibited substances as per the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The drug essentially helps athletes in endurance. Railways coach Dinesh Meena was unavailable for comments.
The race that was held on January 24 at Namkum, Ranchi, ended on a dramatic note where results had to be revised due to allegations of impersonation.
At the finish line, Services’ Raghunandan Singh finished second behind Harmanjot Singh. With another athlete, Ankit, finishing fourth, the Services team was declared the overall champions.
However, another athlete showed up to collect the silver medal on behalf of Raghunandan at the victory ceremony. The Railways team quickly flagged the impersonation and even filed an official complaint with the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) with video evidence that showed that the man who ran as Raghunandan and the one at the victory ceremony were two different individuals.
It was later found out that Raghunandan had sent the same individual for dope testing at the meet. The AFI quickly disqualified his result and then issued a revised list. As per the new list, Harmanjot was declared the winner, followed by Punit, Ankit, Panchanan Bera and Jayesh. Railways were declared as overall champions.
